selector infected WIXOSS Episode 2 Impressions

With Ruko and Yuzuki having established a friendship last week, the two have resolve to both become Eternal Girls and have their wishes come true. Not that ruko actually has any wishes. It’s kinda sad, but somehow cute…Anyway, if they cannot battle each other, then they’ll just have to find some more selectors. I wonder if they’ll be just as kind and understanding as Ruko and Yuzuki?

Best seats in the house

Nope. Meet Akira, a peppy girl well known for her modelling career. To most she is a beacon of joy and inspiration, kind to her fans and generally a pleasure to be around. Now that’d be all well and good, if it wasn’t a total lie. Shielded by the fourth wall, we are lucky enough to bear witness to her true persona: a sadistic girl who relishes in not only beating her opponents, but crushing them. It’s quite the change from what we’ve seen thus far and is interesting from a narrative stand point. I mean, if everyone was nice, who would you root for? Every anime needs a villain to a certain degree and, at least for now, Akira fits the bill. To truly showcase the extent of her sadism, Akira is pitted against Hitoe, perhaps the shiest girl to ever exist. She could barely even ask to battle Akira, so you can imagine how quickly she broke under the onslaught of mind games. Poor Hitoe…

After destroying Hitoe in battle, Akira forces Yuzuki to divulge her e-mail, so that they may fight in the future. The fervour with which Akira contacts Yuzuki after said exchange is rather frightening. Even more so is the happy tone with which she does it. The disconnect between Akira’s outward personality and her true motives presents what can only be described as an unstable character. Scarier still is that almost nobody knows that she isn’t the sweet “Aki-lucky” girl she pretends to be. One can only fathom what wish she fights for…

What’s in a stare?

This episode also focuses on one of the more realistic elements of any card game: shopping. Fearing that she will suffer the same defeat as Hitoe, Yuzuki is taken to a card shop to upgrade her deck. Unfortunately for her, the experience is not one of joy, or even mediocrity for that matter. No, it is one of hesitation and fear. Why so dramatic about shopping you wonder? Just the fact that there might be something going on between her brother and the helpful girl who works at the card shop. Drama bomb. Now we all know that Yuzuki has the hots for her brother (such a weird sentence to write) but we’ve never seen how this attraction plays out in public situations. Due to her jealousy and inability to express herself, Yuzuki plays somewhat of a shrinking violet, becoming far more reserved than normal. However when her embarrassment peaks, she is prone to outbursts followed promptly by a quick escape. Once again, her personality quirks add a strange sense of innocence to her infatuation with her brother, aided by a flashback that reveals she has felt this way since kindergarten. Though the idea of a child who knows little about the boundaries of society, Yuzuki never evolved this thought, continuing on with her off kilter perception of love.

Whilst lashing out due to embarrassment, Yuzuki calls out Ruko on certain traits she has observed. Namely that she can’t tell what she’s thinking. More than a simple insult, Ruko does nothing but agree after flashing back to the vision she saw previously. This also provides an interesting link between Ruko and Tama, who are apparently more similar than they seem. During last week’s impression, I noted that Tama’s inability to speak made it so that we couldn’t tell what the little LRIG was thinking. Perhaps this bizarre personality is an extension of Ruko herself. Perhaps the promise that WIXOSS can make you the person you wish to be begins by manifesting your ideal form in the LRIGs. If that’s the case, there’s much more to Ruko than initially shown.

Some things cannot be unsaid…

Well with the Eternal Girls all gathering together you’d expect some battles to take place. Which is good because some are about to. Recovering from her crushing defeat, Hitoe challenges an unsuspecting Ruko, whilst Yuzuki decides to finally take on Akira. With two battles set to begin, next week should provide some excellent action. Maybe Akira will even get taken down a peg. That’d be nice…